I know I have made a few posts in the past about this, but hopefully I will FINALLY get a chance to play this concept sometime early next year, if not sooner. I am looking to replace my old Hexblade concept from DnD 3.5.

1. I am currently planing the following: Arcane Dualist 10/Lore Warden 1/EK9. This is because this character is more of a fighter that can cast.

2. The GM will probably grant 18 pt buy and have 3 starting traits. Magical Knack is a must for this build.

3. I have a custom race I am getting to play, which possible even get published someday. Because of this I can only give you brief details about the race.

Humanoid
Race: +2 Str, -2 Int, +2 Cha
Medium
Bite Attack: 1D3 Damage

Other racial traits really don't help too much with this planed build.

4. Here is my X-mas list of things I want to do with this character:
A. TWF Style using Sword and Shield (Shield is required purely for concept, I want to do TWF). Not planing on going past Improved Two Weapon Fighting due to Dex requirements and lack of benefit from the feat.

B. Dimensional Agility Feat Tree To get full attack actions as often as possible.

C. Dazzling Display Feats The character is a bit of a walking horror, and I was hoping to personify this in combat if possible.

9 levels of Eldritch Knight is going to hurt your Bardishness at higher levels - your Bladethirst, Inspire Courage, Inspire Greatness, and Dirge of Doom are going to be stuck in their tracks, not advancing.

You're also missing out on the ability to cast bardic spells in heavy armor.

I love bards as much, if not more, than the next guy, but I have to wonder if Arcane Dualist + EK is really the way to do this? Is adding EK worth it? Would Shield Magus be a better plan? I suppose it would depend upon the kind of spells you want.

*Shrug* I don't know much about the character, so I can't much say. I've never really been a fan of the EK though, so your mileage will of course, vary.

EK is better suited for classes that don't get big abilities every level that scale, in other words, level 9 spell casters. EK does not mix well with casters that cap at level 6 spells simply because you are losing way too much. The slightly higher BAB and slight drop in caster level does not justify all those abilities being lost, imo.

If you want, you can probably get a similar return by dipping 2 levels in fighter to have 2 extra feats, +2 BAB, a bump to fort saves all at the cost of 2 caster levels.

Oh and while we talk about dimension agility, please tell me there's some errata that make these combat feats :<

Okay I am open to a different set builds for class levels. Since I plan on doing the TWF build I didn't think heavy armor was worth it, as unless I get Celestrial Armor made out of mithral (I know that can't happen), I will never want to use heavy armor.

So what do you guys think about AD 14/LW 1/EK 5?

And about the race, seriously the other abilities are non-combat and should have nothing to do with the build as they are non-combat.

Replacement Powers: The following school powers replace the diviner's fortune and scrying adept powers of the divination school.

Prescience (Su): At the beginning of your turn, you may, as a free action, roll a single d20. At any point before your next turn, you may use the result of this roll as the result of any d20 roll you are required to make. If you do not use the d20 result before your next turn, it is lost. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.

While it has some uses in certain builds. It's usually wiser to just concentrate on your core class.

If you are planning on multi-classing, I'd take a look at the Ranger. As the ranger brings you +BAB, TWF, decent skills, access to other spells.

The concept build is to replace the hexblade from 3.5

While I still want some singing, as that runs well with my character concept separate from Hexblade, I would like the 16 BaB D10 hit die for those 4 levels with two good saves. This lets my de-buffing spells still continue to be effective while remaining a heavy melee combatant

Hm. I like the concept since I liked the Hexblade, but I'm wondering if you can reach decent saves with a 18 point buy and your (most propable) requirements for highish Str, Dex and Con?
Wouldn't concentrating on buffing yourself/your allies be more worthwile?

Also, I remember there to be an attempt of a conversion in the subsection of these boards - would that be an option?

I would either go Arcane Duelist 20, or go Fighter/(Wizard/Sorc)/EK.. Or just Magus even.

Bard/Fighter/EK will lose you a lot of great bard-y things, and all EK gives you is BAB.

Full Bard will give you +2 Inspire Courage, which will match the full BAB of the EK (minus one iterative attack). You will lose out on 2 feats, but retain full spellcasting (which admittedly doesnt matter so much). Wait, whats this! You also get 2 free feats! IGNORE 10 DR! Thats huge. And they're free.

But the BIG ones... You lose out on your ability to upgrade your Arcane Bond (weapon) and Bladethirst (free weapon enchants!)

AND WAIT THERES MORE! You can cast in heavy armor at 16! All this for giving up one iterative attack.

I would either go Arcane Duelist 20, or go Fighter/(Wizard/Sorc)/EK.. Or just Magus even.

Bard/Fighter/EK will lose you a lot of great bard-y things, and all EK gives you is BAB.

Full Bard will give you +2 Inspire Courage, which will match the full BAB of the EK (minus one iterative attack). You will lose out on 2 feats, but retain full spellcasting (which admittedly doesnt matter so much). Wait, whats this! You also get 2 free feats! IGNORE 10 DR! Thats huge. And they're free.

But the BIG ones... You lose out on your ability to upgrade your Arcane Bond (weapon) and Bladethirst (free weapon enchants!)

AND WAIT THERES MORE! You can cast in heavy armor at 16! All this for giving up one iterative attack.

Go Arcane Duelist20. :)

To do the TWF my dex probably needs to be too high for heavy armor, so that means very little to me. I guess my AC is going to suck a little.

Would it really kill it if I got 1 level fighter? I need the WPs and the feat for TWF; unless I am missing something.